Grreeeaaattttt (open)

[Riber~]

Halostep stepped into the welcoming light of the nursery. It was already familiar. She could navigate with her eyes closed and without whiskers. Again, she was heavy with kits. Very heavy. Again, she would give birth and nurse them and watch them become apprentices. In fact, they could be born anyday now... The crean and white queen flopped down into a nest, wondering how well her young kits would cope with the journey ahead.

ooc- I greatly considered having her magically go into labor.

[Amberstorm]

(XD Mink's always there to help.)

[Riber~]

ooc- Eh. After someone else posts I'll make her start labor.

[Wolvine]

OOC: I'll halp =3

Otterkit padded past the permanetly fat Halostep. He had just become used to the queen being large, no longer regarding her as pregant. He mumbbled a greeting then went over to sit in his nest, comepleatly exaughsted from his latest adventure.

[Lynx]

Berrykit looked at the Newcomer, mewed a greeting an jumped into Otterkits nest. "Wanna play?", she mewed while playing with his tail.

[Wolvine]

"Sorry Berrykit. I've been out of camp all day lookin for something. I'll play tomorrow..: Otterkit mumbled, placing his brown tail over his eyes.

[Cheesles]

"Berrykit!!!" Autumnkit called as she streaked through the air, landing on Berrykits back. She aimed to rake her paws down her sisters side.

[Lynx]

Berrykit made a funny noise as her sister landed on her. SHe rolled to the side and tried to get rid of her with the hlep of her ind legs. "You no beat the mighty Windclan!"

[Cheesles]

Autumnkit batted her sister painlessly. "Take that Scourge!" She yowled despite not even knowing who that was. She heard from the elders that he was an evil being the tried to take over the forest. He was big with blood red eyes and long crooked claws. He had a crown of thorns and everyone feared him.

Well, thats what she thought anyway.

[Riber~]

Halostep watched the playing kits with a warm smile, allowing any trace of a sour mood to fade away like nothing. They always managed to cheer her up and soon she would be watching her own. Again. Where had Pantherhead(?) been lately? Curling up in her nest, the warm feathers and fur a comfort, the queen wrapped her tail around her nose, eyes still on the kits. Suddenly, the she-cat gave a cry. Sharp pains kicked at her stomach violently and she knew what was happening. "Get the medicine cat!"

[Cheesles]

"Autumnkit and Berrykit!, you go!" Flower mewedand shuffled closer to the queen. "You seem to know what you're doing, I'll be here to help though." She mewed smiling warmly.

[Amberstorm]

"Ai, ai! I be 'ere!" Minkfur yowled characteristically as she bounded into the den.
"Outta da way, young'uns. Give this queen some room! Yeh can watch, but stay at the edges..." Minkfur commanded. She looked at Halostep. Though she had been with the Clan for a good seven or eight moons, she still had never talked to this she-cat before.
"Halo...paws... Is it?" Minkfur took a guess at the name.
"Well... how long have you been feelin' da pain? Just now?" Minkfur meowed. One could tell that she had been in the job for many moons. She looked straight at the queen. There was an instensity blazing in her eyes, like she knew exactly what to do, and she did. Minkfur placed a paw upon the queen's swollen abdomen. When she looked at the bedding, she saw birth liquid start to form in a puddle. The kits were coming, and they were coming very fast.
"This'll be a quicky." Minkfur assured. "I don' think yer goin' to have any problems." Then she turned tail and stuck her head out of the nursery.
"Pinepaw! Get yer tail over here!" She yowled, and turned back to the queen.
"That tom's been actin' kinda useless lately. I don' know wha's gotten into him..." Minkfur grumbled.

[Riber~]

The queen gave a sigh of relief as the medicine cat lumbered into the den, meowing to her like giving birth was nothing. She winced as another convulsion waved through her and she spoke through gritted teeth. "Step. Halostep." She forced a thin smile and somehow felt safe in the paws of Minkfur. "Just now, yes." The reassurance of her voice and then the tone as to which she spoke to Pinepaw made her whiskers twitch in amusement. "Well, I'm hoping the second time around gets easier..."

[Lynx]

Berrykit's eyes grew wide. What was happening right now? "Halostep what's up with you?", she mewed and crouched to the cat's head. "Why are you in pain?" She never saw a queen getting kits before so she didn't know that was normal. She just lay there and licked the she-cat's ear to comfort her.

[Wolvine]

Otterkit rolled his eyyes. He had been trhough this once. It was loud and messy, full of hysterical queens as well.

[Amberstorm]

Minkfur sighed. That apprentice of hers was really slacking these days...
"Kay, Step. I'll remember that..." Minkfur meowed. She probably wasn't going to remember.
"Yeh see, where I came from, they didn' put "paw" at the end of 'pprentice's names." Minkfur explained.
"I'm sure yer second litter'll be easier, since yeh'll be calmer with this now dat you'll know what to do." Then Minkfur started grumbling more under her breath about Pinepaw.
"Sorry, I'll be back... gotta get some herbs... That apprentice really is pushing it, skipping out on yer first birth. T'was an honor seein' kits born, it was, where I was bern (born)."
Then the medicine cat bustled out of the den, rushing to her den. It was very cold inside the den. Not good for herbs to be. But she had solved this problem by laying an old rabbit's pelt over the crack in which she stored her most important herbs.
"Dern... no chamomile." Minkfur grumbled, the herb clearly not present under the rabbit's pelt.
"Kay... We got... coltsfoot.... Oh, yeah, lavender!" Minkfur said enthusiastically. She couldn't help noticing that Pinepaw's scent was hardly even present in the den. She would need to have a serious talk with the young tom after this was over. She pawed out some chervil leaves, to prevent an infection. Then, picking up the herbs in her mouth, she found her way back into the nursery.
"Hope I didn' take too long... did the best I could. Hm.... some extra moss would be nice..." She meowed to herself. Then she looked at young Berrykit and Otterkit.
"Hey, Otterkit, Berrykit, gimmie some of dat moss. It don't matter if they're a part of the nest, that can be replaced. Jus' make sure it ain't got no extra stuff like feathers or bugs or somethin'..." Then she turned back to the queen.
"Yeh should eat this. You'll be goin' through some shock, since it's yer first time and everything. Even the oldest, most experienced queens still go through shock when birth comes 'round." Minkfur advised, pushing the coltsfoot toward the queen.

[Wolvine]

Otterkti gave shrug, got up and started clawing moss out of his nest. Once he his nest was about half the size it was, he oushed it over to Minkfur. He had too much in his nest anyway. "I could have gone got the herbs for you Minkfur," the brown tom meowed trhough a mothful of moss.

[Amberstorm]

"Thanks, Otter...." Minkfur meowed, often just referring to young cats by the first part of their name, and started pushing the extra moss into where the kits would be born. The fluids from the birth would be soaked up into this.
"That's all very well, Otterkit, but yeh don' know any herbs. Yeh don't have the training like me or Pinepaw." Minkfur explained. An idea sparked in the back of her wind, however.
"It's not like he's puttin' his knowledge teh good use or anythin', though..." She muttered darkly. Then, her ears pricked up again, she eyed the queen's belly, saw the way she heaved.
"Shan't be long now." Minkfur meowed. She placed her paw upon the queen's belly, trying to figure out how many kits would be born. Minkfur concentrated very hard, and sensed about three heart-beats. Then she felt a fourth. She took her paw off the queen.
"Yeh got four lil' young'uns there, Halop-step, step, sorry." Minkfur corrected herself.

[Wolvine]

Otterkit gave a shrug. "Warriors don't need to know about herbs I guess." He gave a sniff and padded back to his nest, curling up in it tightly.

[Amberstorm]

"Come on, Otterkit, yeh should know better dan to sulk 'round. Yeh got a Clan to train and hunt for. Though... mind naming off three herbs you do know?" Minkfur meowed, for once calling Otterkit by his full name. She could feel the tension from the queen. She finally decided to talk to Berrykit.
"Never seen a queen give birth, den, Berry?" Minkfur meowed, with a slightly amused tone.

[Wolvine]

He gave a sniff. "Yarrow, catming and... Er..." Otterkit blinked. "Juniper?"

[Amberstorm]

"Okay...." Minkfur meowed, surprised that a kit knew about juniper berries. Perhaps Otterkit wasn't just a useless scrap of fur who caused trouble for no reason. But she'd always been fond of the kit. She still remembered almost sneezing on him. She chuckled on the inside.
"What does yarrow do?" Minkfur asked.

[Wolvine]

Otterkit stared helplessly into space. "It tastes bad.." He remembered when he had been forced to eat some when he accidentally swallowed a bad mouse. "And it makes you throw up."

[Amberstorm]

"Very, very good." Minkfur meowed. Perhaps... no, she had an apprentice. But she cold train Otterkit as well. For at her birth place, Senior Warriors could train more than one apprentice. There would be no harm in training Otterkit as well, until he became a real apprentice.
"Otterkit... Since Pinepaw's a mouse-brain, would yeh like to learn some herbs so you can help out in teh future? When yeh become an apprentice, though, I won' be able to train you no more..." Minkfur suggested. Would he agree?

[Wolvine]

Otterkit reathed a sigh of relief. She haddn't asked about the other two herbs; he knew catmint cured some sickness, but he had no clue what juniper did. He had just heare it from evesdropping on warriors. But the question Minkfur asked took him compleatly by surprise. "You? Teach me?" He stared blankly at her for a moment, then his amber eyes lit up. "Sure! Its better than being stuck in the Nurcery all day anyway!"

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