Baby's Day Out

Toadspeckle hadn’t really anticipated how much of a pawful kits could be. They had started out fairly easy to handle, if a bit needy. Now her kits were big enough to leave the nursery.
I thought I’d be able to go back by now, she thought with a wistful sigh as she glanced over to the warrior’s den. Toadspeckle still wasn't used to the nursery and she doubted she ever would be. Laying around in camp all day with kits clambering all over her-- it just didn't feel right. Never thought I'd ever miss going out on dawn patrol... She shook her head to chase away whatever longing thoughts had entered and carefully stood up as to not squish a kit that may have gotten underpaw. “I’m getting something from the freshkill pile,” she suddenly announced with a flick of her tail, casting a glance over her shoulder towards her brood. “Why don’t you all go play in camp? Maybe you can find a nice warrior to give you badger rides.”

Splashkit was playing with a moss ball when her mother got up. "Can I come with you Mama? I wanna see what the pile looks like!" she happily mewed getting to her paws. Being the smallest of the litter she was known for always following after her mother as to her, her mother was the safest place to be.

Beetlekit snorted indignantly, looking over at her sister and how excited she was to see the fresh-kill pile. What was so interesting about a pile of dead things anyways? It reeked and sometimes when the old stuff wasn't thrown out or eaten fast enough maggots grew on it, and sure that was really cool to watch little bugs squirm in the fleshy bits, but it really wasn't that interesting aside. What she really wanted was to go out and fight and hunt! To feel the rush of her veins as she defended her clan! Beetlekits paw squirmed as she grew restless, and seeing as her sibling was the closest thing to her to torment she swatted Splashkit's tail a few times. How boring! Beetlekit clambered to her paws, shuffling past her sibling quickly before her mom could scold her, though not without sticking out her tongue first.

Unlike her sibling, she had been out of the nursery a scant number of times, though it was all sneaking out before Toadspeckle started bringing them out on little trips when it seemed she finally bothered to. Beetlekit could see how tired her mom was, or that's how she liked to put it anyway. There just was something that was bothering Beetlekit about her mom, but with so little experience in life it was just so hard to put a paw on it, but she always seemed a bit absent and Beetlekit was picking up on it.

Whatever, not her business anyway, she was going to go see if some cat was going to teach her some warrior moves! That'd be pretty sick. So, when the first cat to unluckily pass by Beetlekit was her victim!

Crinklekit was ecstatic. Finally, a breath of fresh air! A change of scenery! He'd listened to his mother when she advised him not to leave the nursery. Well, she hadn't really said it but Crinklekit assumed that by staying inside the nursery she wanted her kits to do the same. Well, either way. He was out in the great wide world now! Time to make some friends. He couldn't see anyone new in his immediate vicinity, so he approached his sister. "Beetlekit! Aren't you excited? We finally get to do stuff! Do you think we'll get to see anything cool? I hope so."

As she stepped outside into the camp, Toadspeckle took a deep breath of fresh air. The scent of milk was thick in the nursery, and while not totally unpleasant, it certainly didn’t do anything to lift her spirits. She watched Beetlekit shoot past her-- despite being so young, her daughter had a tendency to cause trouble. As Crinklekit bounded out after his sister, her gaze narrowed. By herself, Beetlekit was more than capable of making mischief; but combined with Crinklekit, they were sure to be a nuisance. She would have to keep a sharp eye on those two. StarClan help whoever mentors those two...
Toadspeckle didn’t need to look down to know Splashkit was still beside her. Splashkit was always nearby. “Of course,” she answered, giving her smallest kit a guiding nudge of her paw towards the freshkill. “Let’s see if there’s something we can share, hm?”

Splashkit followed after her mother with a happy smile. Unlike her siblings who were always racing off, Splashkit stayed calm to observe things around her. As she followed after her mother she watched as apprentices and warriors were padding around camp. Some were just sitting around talking while others were rushing around doing stuff. As they neared the fresh kill pile Splashkit noticed that even though she was still a kit she was only taller than the prey by a hair. She looked up at her mother wondereding what they would share. "Mama, do you think I will ever be as tall as everyone else?" she mewed looking up at her mother who in splash's mind, was a giant.

Beetlekit harrumphed as her brother ventured up to her. Pupils turned to slits as she glared apathetically at him, how dare he ruin her plans of misadventure? Her future of clawing the ankles of grown warriors? "I think the coolest parts of this place are the leader's den and outside of camp!" Beetlekit whole-heartedly declared, not one for staying still and not exploring the widest reaches of her current explorable space. Beetlekit puffed out her chest and looked at Crinklekit with disdain, "Not like you could even get close to either! You're too puny and soft to even see either! Hmmph!" She jeered, goading her brother to hopefully tread his paws where they didn't belong, then he'd get in trouble and never bug her again, what a perfect plan.