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Post by Fadingstar on Aug 23, 2008 22:22:27 GMT -5
A single beam of light shot through the hole at the top of the StoneClan camp, its beam broke through and hit the nursery. A ruffled pelt of gray splotched with black moved and a small grown was emitted from somewhere in the great ball of fur. The light seemed to shine right over the place where she had been peacefully sleeping for the first time. Just like the breaking dawn to awaken her from this quiet bliss.
Soon however reality hit Breezewhisper as the scent of milk and the feeling of softness and warmth enveloped her. Her golden eyes opened slightly as her head became visible. Her comfortable moss and feather lined nest of a queen soon made her remember the past events of her life.
She was pregnant, not with the kits of a cat she loved, or knew for that matter, but the kits of a rogue. She closed her slitted gaze for another moment as the thought dawned on her before she pushed her ashen figure up into a sitting position.
Breezewhisper's usually neat and well-groomed pelt looked ruffled and not in the least bit presentable, but for once she didn't seem to care. Oh she noticed but all she did was shake herself slightly to get the remaining clumps of moss and a few feathers from her pelt. Heaving herself to her paws Breezewhisper waddled slowly to the entrance of the nursery, breathing deeply the fresher scent of the clearing washing away the suffocation she felt inside the nursery. The she-cat loved the chill of the hard stone on her paws and couldn't resist laying down on the side of the nursery allowing her dark pelt to soak in the coolness.
Soon, despite the fact this was sure to give her stiff limbs Breezewhisper found herself dozing off. Allowing the sleep to her tired body Breezewhisper was soon fast asleep.
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Post by Duskstar on Aug 23, 2008 22:54:15 GMT -5
;; A large head lifted itself slowly from a nest of moss, and two very tired looking eyes flickered open. Groaning the tom forced himself into a sitting position, blinking the sleep from his gaze as he looked out into the still dark clearing. "Another early morning..." Thought the tabby, his dark pink tongue beginning to rasp over an untidy pelt. Just yesterday he was up long before the Dawn Patrol. Once finished flattening a few stray flyaways on his pelt, Duskstar stood and stretched, putting all his weight on his back paws and arching his back, a rather ungraceful yawn escaping between his ivory teeth.
;; The leader padded out into the Stone Clearing without a second thought, a cool chill greeting him as he arrived. Tabby fur ruffled up against the Leaffall chill, his dull yellow gaze began sweeping the clearing. Not many were up during this time, except for a few adventurous kits tussling outside the nursery, and even they had to yawn every once and a while. Duskstar noticed something else near the nursery, a rather disturbed looking Breezewhisper, fast asleep. "Why is she sleeping outside, where it is hard?" He thought, ears twitching.
;; Just about then a small kit began to become adventurous enough to come near to the sleeping deputy. It reached out a small paw and poked her before running away, back to a small group of littermates. Another soon came back, this time aiming for Breezewhisper's tail, her small rump wriggling before pouncing, batting it and running as her brother had done. Duskstar couldn't help but purr. Kits were so cute. However, the clan deputy was a queen, and a moody one at that, being so close to her time, so he decided to step in.
;; Padding forward in a sophisticated matter, the kits seemed to look up at him in awe. At the same time, though, they seemed to fear him, knowing that they were getting scolded. Duskstar had no means of growling at them, fortunately, but just to explain to them what they had done wrong. They were still kits, after all. Speaking quietly as to not wake Breezewhisper, if she was still sleeping, the leader began speaking, "Now now, little ones, leave her alone. Its hard carrying kits around all the time, and is very tiering, you can ask your mother about that." Batting the first one playfully with a paw Duskstar continued, "Now, do I need to send you all back into the Nursery until she wakes up? Good." The last sentence was added when the kits quickly shook their heads. The tom purred and made himself comfortable, laying down on the cold stone ground, watching the kits play.
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Post by Fadingstar on Aug 23, 2008 23:12:34 GMT -5
A small hiss could be heard from the stirring deputy, her sleep being awoken by a small paw touching her of all things. She let it pass with the coolness of the rock below her but the second one awoke her as a deep growl erupted from her throat. Opening her warm gold eyes she gazed around through slits for what had touched her. Breezewhisper soon found the cause of the problem to kits, sitting up painfully her limbs cracking slightly she waddled angrily in their direction.
She failed to notice Duskstar a short distance away as she bared her pearl fangs at the kits a threatening gaze making the kits shrink away in fear. Breezewhisper didn't have to actually speak for as soon as the two kits saw her getting ready to reprimand them they took off towards the nursery to seek the protection of their mother.
A small groan culd be heard from inside the nursery after this as the kits squeaked in fear to their mother. Soon a queen came angrily out to see what had been bothering her kits, more so why they had came to bother her. Spotting Breezewhisper's burning golden gaze however made her push her kits back into the den with a paw, Breezewhisper caught the slight dirty look from the queen before she too disappeared into the den.
Sighing she grimaced slightly as a small kick came to her side before realizing that she was growing hungry. Waddling over to the fresh-kill pile she picked through it delicately before choosing a small mouse. Picking it up carefully in her jaw she carried it to the opposite side of the clearing from the nursery and began to pick at it slightly distant in her gaze.
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Post by Duskstar on Aug 24, 2008 9:48:58 GMT -5
;; Duskstar sighed. His deputy was a great choice as his follow up, but she had such a temper with kits. He had tried to step in once again, to comfort the young, but they had gotten their mother first. Stub of a tail twitching, the tom watched as the queen turned to go back into the nursery, her tail lashing behind her. Once Breezewhisper was on the other side of the clearing, however, the she-kit had poked her nose out of the den, sniffed, and warily padded out, followed by her brother. In less than a second they were jumping around and playing just as they were before. It just proves how little of an attention span kits had. No wonder they weren't apprenticed until six moons.
;; Purring softly, still touched by the kits' performance, Duskstar made his way toward the fresh kill pile as well. It was rather skimpy, only a few small mammals piled up near the sliver of light from the outside world. Poking a few with his large paw, the tom chose the smallest one, a wimpy bird. He wasn't really hungry anyway. Duskstar then started over toward the deputy, his unsheathed claws scraping the rock beneath him. The leader made himself comfortable across from the queen. Ears twitching in greeting he started in on his bird, the stringy meat feeling bitter and dry against his tongue. He couldn't imagine how much Chaosheart would complain if given this piece of prey.
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Post by Fadingstar on Aug 30, 2008 22:07:26 GMT -5
Hissed slightly to herself as the kits came back out within seconds, narrowing her golden gaze in their direction. Kits were soo....immature, that was part of her problem with them. Pricking her ears at the sound of claws scratching across the rock she hurriedly looked up, pelt bristling in alarm, though she relaxed considerably when she noticed it was only Duskstar.
Looking back down at the half-eaten mouse she began to swallow a few more bits of the dry meat, forcing it down despite the fact she had just lost her appetite. "Good Morning, Dusktar...." She spoke softly as she brushed the bones away from her, gazing at Duskstar.
"Did you remember to send a dawn Patrol out?" She questioned though she instantly regretted it, he was her leader that was rather disrespectful, glancing at her dark gray paws she knew he most likely did. Afterall he was the leader, how could he forget?
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Post by Duskstar on Aug 31, 2008 9:04:39 GMT -5
;; Duskstar felt the skin under his pelt grow hot with embarrassment, the fact that he had forgotten actually covering up the disrespect in the question. He hadn't had to organize regular patrols since he was deputy, many many moons ago. Looking up at the sliver of light in the top of the cavern, a sigh of relief came as he realized it was earlier than they would normally leave. "Right, thanks for reminding me Breezewhisper. Shouldn't take long, I'll be back." Then, dropping his bird on the stone with an empty thud, the leader sprinted into the Warrior's Den, nothing heard but a few groaning cats and words from the StoneClan leader. When Duskstar stepped out a few warriors followed, grumbling and groaning on their way out of the cave.
;; Nodding to himself the tom padded back over toward his bird, picking it up and placing himself across from the queen. He then bite through the feathers and down into the meat, juices squirting into his mouth as he chewed. "So Breezewhisper," Duskstar meowed after chewing, "How's life of a queen, other than the fact that the kits never let you sleep?" The last part of the question came out as a purr, the tom's tail twitching. He remembered the day Shadowpaw and Pebblepaw were born, standing next to Iceshadow as the miracle happened. His eyes clouded over with pain seeing the image of his previous mate. As the second kit came out, Iceshadow had taken her last breath. Pebblepaw was the younger of the two.
;; Blinking away the sadness in his eyes, Duskstar turned his attention once more to his deputy, awaiting an answer to his question.
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Post by Fadingstar on Sept 3, 2008 12:24:33 GMT -5
Breezewhisper looked down at her gray paws, they were small and if she were to turn them upside down she would find her pads a mixture of black and pink, hard from the many moons scaling the rocks of StoneClan. She had been born here thus not making that fact anything special to anyone in her own Clan but to the others and their soft pads it would be torture to run up and down her territory. Pricking her ears at the sound of Duskstar's movement she looked up to see the muscular tom moving towards the Warriors' Den, he must've forgotten about the patrol but luckily it wasn't to late to send one out and hopefully it covered up her lack of respect in asking.
Keeping her eyes on the tom as he headed into the Den she heard the grunts of him awakening a few warriors to do the Dawn Patrol. As he came out followed by a few warriors that headed for the Tunnel he situated himself back down in front of her. She shifted herself uncomfortably and perked her ears toward's her leader. "Boring...." She meowed solemnly killing any happy playfulness to the question.
To herself the question made her heart hit the bottom of her chest, she'd never asked for this and had never been to fond of kits, especially now. Her ears plastered to her skull now she shook slightly, though you'd have to be looking pretty closely at her to notice. She would be a terrible mother, deep inside her she knew she wasn't ready to be one and she didn't have anyone to back her up and help with raising them. They would hate her.... One way or another she would upset them and they would never love her again. She had failed already in her mind and she hadn't even had them yet....
Breezewhisper didn't even pause to notice Duskstar's own sadness, his loss not even coming to her mind in her own sadness.
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Post by Duskstar on Sept 5, 2008 23:17:30 GMT -5
;; Dull yellow eyes rested warmly on Breezewhisper, and seeing the pain in her gaze he padded silently over, leaving the bones of his half-eaten bird on the stone ground behind him. "Hey, it won't be so bad being a mother." The tom purred softly, "Streamflow never wanted kits, but she took Shadowpaw and Pebblepaw after some persuading, and ended up raising them very well." Duskstar pushed his nose into the deputy's fur, pained to see her so upset. Truly it would make him sad as well to see anyone with such deep sorrow. It wasn't fair that that rouge had been there, and that Breezewhiper would have to bear his kits. Just the thought of a rouge made a mixture of fear and steaming hot anger well up in Duskstar's chest. Now because of him the kits that came into this world would be shunned and by the looks of Breezewhisper, somewhat unloved. The only thing they could do would be to pray to StarClan that none of the kits would look like their father.
;; Dull amber gaze now lit up in fury, Duskstar calmed himself with images of killing the rough that had hurt his deputy so badly. He did it slowly and painfully, putting him through as much pain as he had put Breezewhisper through, if not more. Claw by claw, slash by slash, the rough was tattered and limp by the time the StoneClan leader was done with him.
;; After a few of these images Duskstar forced himself to take a deep breath, inhaling the scents of his dear clan to comfort him. Once he came to the leader realized how much sympathy he had just felt for Breezewhisper. He cared about her so much he would KILL for her. "She's a clanmate." Duskstar thought, "I would do the same for any of them." The thought was empty, and although in convinced him temporarily, the tom knew, deep down, that the only other time he had felt this way was around his beloved Iceshadow. Flexing his claws against the stone ground Duskstar returned to his old spot, continuing the eating of his bird.
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Post by Fadingstar on Sept 11, 2008 20:36:14 GMT -5
Breezewhisper was brought back to reality by Duskstar's words of comfort. Not that they helped much, when Breezewhisper decided something, no matter how bad it was, she had decided and was hard pressed to change her ways. She knew that in the end her kits would go unloved, she hadn't had the luck of being persuaded to take these kits, yet they were stuck inside of her.
As the dark-pelted she-cat was just beginning to head back into those deep depressing thoughts when a sharp kick made her wince. Probably for the better.... Then before she could do anything or move away her leader touched her gently with his nose, her fur prickled a jolt of something that she couldn't quite pick out at his touch. She hated others touching her, but something was different about Duskstar's touch, it didn't anger her or make her jump away from him. No she was....alright if that could be possible for her.
She looked over to meet his dull yellow gaze, it was full of fury and his intense feelings of it fell off him in waves. Though somehow she was still thinking about that feeling she got when he had touched her, Breezewhisper had never known that feeling before thus it baffled her greatly.
All of the sudden the sharp pain from before came back, doubling in pain, her ears fell back against her skull and she lay down curling into some kind of gigantic ball with her bulging stomach sticking out. Again a few seconds later the pain had returned doubling from the last one, a small whimper escaping the dark-pelted she-cat as she closed her molten yellow gold gaze.
What was happening right now? The pain dulling her senses and thinking abilities as she tried to figure the very simple question out. Hopefully Duskstar understood that she was in a great amount of pain, because she couldn't come up with the words to tell him, her breath gone in great gasps as well as her inability to think of anything to say.
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Post by Duskstar on Sept 13, 2008 1:09:00 GMT -5
;; Duskstar gazed back at Breezewhisper, his dull yellow gaze meeting her molten one. She seemed... confused, and the emotions flowing away from her confused the leader as well. Was the deputy angry that he had tried to comfort her? Embarrassment flooded through Duskstar's tabby pelt, his stub of a tail twitching as he struggled to think of what to say. Suddenly he blinked and his deputy was on the stone ground, curled up in a ball. Ears twitched and dull yellow gaze turned almost panicked as she whimpered as if in great pain. Abandoning his fresh kill Duskstar ran to her side, not exactly sure what to do as he wasn't her mate.
;; Suddenly she started gasping, and the leader's breathing quickened. The signs were so close to... That was when the tom snapped to it, Shadowpaw and Pebblepaw's birth! Of course! "Don't worry Breezewhisper!" Duskstar struggled to keep his voice calm though on the inside he was shaking. A wave of sadness swept over him as he thought of the last kit. One that looked so much like her mother. And then she was gone. Once again the tabby snapped back to reality, remembering the task at hand, "I'll get Tidefur!" Dull yellow gaze rose to the hole in the top of the cavern. It looked as though it was late enough for the clan medicine cat to already be awake, not that it would matter, he would be awake in about three heartbeats anyway.
;; Duskstar raced across the stone clearing and in just a few heartbeats was outside of a den that smelled strongly of herbs, "Tidefur!" He yowled, "Come quickly, Breezewhisper's giving birth!" The tabby couldn't think of much else that would need saying, so he was back at his deputy's side in a few more heartbeats, trying to comfort her with a few soft purrs.
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Post by shadow on Sept 13, 2008 10:17:09 GMT -5
They always asked why he didn't sleep much. Tidefur had a simply answer for such questions. Things happened when he slept so he got woken up and tossed into the line of duty. Of course being a medicine cat it was what he expected so it didn't bother him too much. At Duskstar's first word, Tidefur was wide awake, uncoiling his dark bodice from his nest. He perked his ears and retreated into the depths of his den which smelled strongly of many herbs. Breezewhisper was giving birth. Right. Sniffing out a few herbs he wrapped them in a fern leaf and picked up the bundle. Sprinting from his den the stormy tom made his way toward the nursery.
As he expected, Duskstar was crouched beside Breezewhisper comforting her as the she-cat was already in labor. Coming up beside Breezewhisper's head, the skinny tom sniffed her over once before pulling open the fern leaf that held his herbs. Placing several dark green leaves beside Breezewhisper's head he licked her ears soothingly. "I need you to eat these Breezewhisper, as many as you can alright?" he meowed, half ordering and half asking.
The herbs would help the kits make their journey into the world as well as help with bleeding and pain. The last thing anyone needed was for Breezewhisper to bleed out during her birthing, as several she-cats unfortunately did. It was unfortunate but Tidefur wouldn't let it happen to Breezewhisper. Continuing to lick her ears soothingly, the tom kept his eyes on her enlarged belly, waiting. That was what birthing was. A waiting game. There was only so much they could do to be ready and then it was up to Breezewhisper and her kits.
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Post by Fadingstar on Sept 13, 2008 14:31:27 GMT -5
Breezewhisper was vaguely aware of Duskstar getting up and yowling in the direction of the medicine cat. She was not one to care at a moment like this however, the pain was horrendous not something she would care to go through ever. Especially by some rogue, oh Starclan especially not by some rogue! Breezewhisper's claws unsheathed naturally aqs she began to claw at the ground slightly, as if trying to pull herself away from the pain.
As Tidefur approached she watched him as he pulled open the leaf he had brought with him, as he licked her ears in what would have been a soothing way if she hadn't been herself. Hissing at him slightly she drew her ears back, comfort wouldn't help her in this way.
She nodded slightly as another rush of pain hit her, she reached out her neck to lick up some of the leaves. Breezewhisper smacked her lips at the foul taste of the leaves trying to clean it from her tongue, only a few of the leaves that Tidefur had made her eat were gone. Her tail lashed back and forth as she gasped for breath, trying hard to push out one of the kits. This wasn't going to end well, Breezewhisper closed her eyes and tried to focus on the task at paw. [/blockquote]
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Post by shadow on Sept 16, 2008 5:30:30 GMT -5
Despite Breezewhisper's hissing, Tidefur continued to groom her fur absentmindedly, keeping an eye open for the appearance of the kits. Once the birthing of kits was done on Breezewhisper's part, his began. Since from her size he could guess she would be having about three or four kits, Tidefur could guess what to be ready for. So long as the bleeding would stop than it was more likely than not that Breezewhisper would be perfectly fine with her kits but if one kit was stillborn or some other complication arose, it wouldn't take long for things to go sour and then everything would fall all to hell.
"You're doing fine Breezewhisper" Tidefur murmured,nudging her head a bit with his muzzle.
Thinking mildly to himself, Tidefur found it a good thing he had stocked up on borage recently since it seemed Breezewhisper would soon be needing it to help feed some hungry little mouths. Wishing to himself that Duskstar would move his lazy tail out of the way, Tidefur moved so he was facing Breezewhisper's belly, ready to snatch up the first kit and begin cleaning it.
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