[Insidious]

Palescreech met the first wave of clenching pain in her stomach with excitement, masking a grimace as she eloquently poked her nose into the medicine cat’s den. ”Kindleflare?” There was a warmth in her voice that she reserved for Nightstep’s family. ”The kits are coming.” Another contraction hit mid-sentence, and her voice dipped breathily to accommodate for the pain. She almost asked for the medicine cat’s assistance walking to the nursery, but she had herbs to carry, and Palescreech loathed to show such a heavy reliance on anyone other than her mate. Quietly as the expecting queen could, she spun on her heel and wobbled towards her nest in the nursery. On her way, she stopped another warrior, a sharp edge in her eye that surfaced as soon as she was away from Kindleflare. ”Please tell Nightstep that the kits are coming. He cannot miss their birth.” She was polite, as always, but the seriousness in her expression was undeniable. She would hold whoever was within reach responsible if he didn’t show up in time. With the responsibility to fetch him passed onto someone else, Palescreech continued.

She settled into her nest with a relieved sigh, and sunk her teeth into the edge of her nest to suppress a yowl. Palescreech knew better than to expect that kitbirth could be a ladylike endeavour, but she despised losing her composure. Her blue eyes were slits, searching adamantly for her mate—even more so than the medicine cat. She would hold them in until he showed his face, no matter the pain it caused her. Another tremor shot through her body, and she coiled like a snake in an attempt to minimize it. Knowing that the kits she carried were Nightstep’s was her saving grace, and she managed a poisoned smile into the fur along her swollen stomach. She couldn’t wait to meet them. She couldn’t wait for them to make their father proud.

Tags: BlooRey DVD

[BlooRey DVD]

An ear pivoted toward the entrance of her den when the sound of pawsteps broke the quiet air. Idly, the medicine cat noted the awkwardness of the gait, amber eyes flicking to meet the welcome intruder lest someone need her assistance. What she hadn't really expected was to see her brother's mate's muzzle poke into the dim lighting of the den. Prepared with a warm smile and a gentle question, the dark ginger she-cat found herself appropriately silenced when the pale she-cat's words beat her to it. Abandoning the herbs she'd been sorting in one swift moment, the she-cat leapt to her paws. "O-Oh! Coming, I-I'm coming!" She stammered, quickly gathering together a bundle of herbs she knew she would need for the kitting. Her heart hammered in her chest, driven primarily by excitement for the new lives coming into her life. Although Nightstep was not the first of her siblings to bring kits into the world, he was the first of her litter to do so. For some reason, that fact made her feel just a tiny bit closer to the unborn kits. Mentally stamping down a feeling of longing, for such a family and for the she-cat Nightstep called his mate, Kindleflare half-ran, half-stumbled out of her den and made a beeline for the nursery. Ignoring the bewildered stares, and potentially even a question or two, the ginger and white she-cat ducked into the adjacent den. Approaching slowly and calmly so as not to stir up panic, Kindleflare placed the herb bundle down at Palescreech's nest. "Make sure you t-take deep breaths, Pales-screech." She murmured to the queen, making an effort to steady her voice. Although she didn't think the pale furred she-cat was one to panic in such moments, Kindleflare couldn't be too careful at a time like this. Unwrapping the small package and picking out three different herbs. "H-Here, eat these. F-For strength." She mewed as she slid juniper berries and ragwort forward. "A-And for pain." She indicated as she moved the raspberry leaves forward. Next, she gently pressed her nose to the queen's belly, her paw soon following suit as she felt for signs of kitbirth. "Just... T-Try and relax." She mewed upon noticing a tension throughout Palescreech's body.

Insidious
Note: 49 moons old

I'll bring Nightstep in next round!
Tagging @zen in case she wants to bring Firebird in

[Insidious]

The sound of paws outside the nursery caused Palescreech’s head to jolt away from her stomach, pale eyes sharp and attentive. It was Kindleflare—and of course it would be—but the expecting queen could do little to suppress her ears from flipping back. She didn’t want to give Kindleflare the impression that she was displeased, so she forced one of her charismatic smiles, but the pain swimming in her stomach made the corner of her lip droop into a grimace. With a swift nod, Palescreech followed the medicine cat’s instructions. Juniper berries first, and then after a deep breath, the ragwort.

Expectedly, Kindleflare recognized the tension in her body. It was largely to do with it being her first kitting, but there was more than that to it. The kits wanted to come out, and she was stubbornly refusing.

“He needs to be here.” Palescreech didn’t bother to say Nightstep’s name. Kindleflare would have no trouble coming to the conclusion herself. Suddenly, a contraction hit, and a half-yowl, half-hiss fought through her gritted teeth. The queen continued to follow the medicine cat’s instructions to a tee, attempting to breathe through the pain, but her stubbornness reared its ugly head the second that the pain even slightly quelled. As much as she wanted to keep her composure, there was nothing more to be done about it. The kits weren’t going to wait, and she didn’t want to risk their lives or her own.

Nightstep, however, and all of LightningClan, too, wouldn’t hear the end of his absence.

“Kindleflare,” Palescreech’s body was shuddering, but her facial expression was strict as ever. “I sincerely do apologize for this.” It was an odd thing to say, but Kindleflare would soon understand if she didn’t already. Another contraction hit, and she buried her head into the side of her nest, but her words could easily be heard between sharp inhalations. “My claws are unsheathing unbidden, and I fear the worst if he doesn’t show up before I reopen my eyes. Perhaps you’d like to find someone to stand in front of you for a moment.” Palescreech was careful to never raise her voice in front of Nightstep’s family, but she banked on being able to pin the blame on hormones when everything was said and done with.

Tags: BlooRey DVD

[BlooRey DVD]

Alarm flickered behind the medicine cat's dark amber gaze, unused to the edge carved into Palescreech's voice. Glancing over her shoulder worriedly, Kindleflare swallowed the lump in her throat and reached for whatever breath of calm she could. Claws curling into the ground at her paws, Kindleflare forced a smile, more so for herself than for Palescreech. The queen's head was already buried back in her nest, and it was probably for the best the medicine cat's smile went unnoticed. The curl of her lip was uncertain, as though she was only hoping what she said was correct. "H-He'll be h-here." Luckily for Kindleflare, Nightstep had been returning from a hunting patrol when another warrior nearly barrelled into one of the patrol members. Dark pupils contracted within sharp yellow eyes when panting words finally explained the situation. The rabbit in his jaws was quickly abandoned, left for someone else to collect, and the tuxedo tom shot off without a word of acknowledgement. His paws thundered over the remaining territory, a wild light in his eyes. In those moments, his blood sang through his veins; he felt alive, just as he did in the moments when someone's life slipped between his claws. LightningClan's camp drew into view rapidly, yet all too slowly. Mild glances of alarm flicked his way as he shoved his way through any sort of crowds milling about. For the most part, cats seemed to clear out of his way. In the back of his mind, he registered with a strong sense of satisfaction that Palesceech had likely made herself known. Dirt and grass were tossed into the air as his claws raked the ground, the black and white tom skidding to a halt only to reorient himself toward the nursery. His lithe yet muscular frame soon took up much of the entrance as he pushed into the small space. Though his breath escaped his maw in short pants, he managed to rasp almost coyly. "You should listen to her, you know. She is the medicine cat after all." Sharp yellow eyes drifted to Kindleflare momentarily, and the dark ginger healer's ears snapped up in alarm. Coughing slightly to clear her throat, Kindleflare moved back to Palescreech's side now that Nightstep sat between the two she-cats. "O-Oh, y-yes u-uh... The f-first k-kit is... D-Definitely r-ready to c-come out... P-Please try and r-relax, b-breathe i-in through your n-nose, a-and out through your m-mouth.. A-And p-push.."

Insidious

[Insidious]

The sound of her mate’s voice was music to her ears, and her head shot up from its position in the crook of her nest, eyes practically glowing with warmth, before the pain in her stomach intensified and she weakly resigned to repositioning herself in preparation to give birth to their kits. She had tried her best to keep them in until he arrived, perhaps too bold of a move, but he was here now and that was all that mattered to the queen. From where the curve of her slender cheek was pressed against the lining of her nest, she beckoned Nightstep closer with a kittenish snap of her teeth. His absence from her side had been too long and too torturous up until now, and she wouldn’t be satisfied until his scent was the only thing she could smell and his black and white fur—devilishly handsome, how the thought still occurred to her while she was in this state was beyond her—was caught playfully, lovingly, in her teeth.

At long last, Palescreech tuned into Kindleflare’s words and nodded her understanding. It was time to push, so she adjusted her body accordingly with a low groan. Breathe in through her nose, out through her mouth, and then—

The pain was excruciating. For a brief moment she wondered how in StarClan she’d survive when she had went her whole life being so small and skinny, but Nightstep—she couldn’t leave him, and she wouldn’t. Her eyes found his and locked in, keeping his handsome face in focus to reassure herself that she was doing okay. Her breaths were getting shorter and quicker, and if anyone could hear her heartrate she was certain it’d sound panicked. It felt like an eternity before the first kitten arrived, but as soon as it did Palescreech perked up, sparing as much energy as she felt confident in doing, so that she could see with her own two eyes that it was healthy. She didn’t get a very good look before exhaustion forced her back down, but she could’ve sworn that it almost looked like her.

“Make sure it’s breathing.” She rasped out a command glazed with maternal concern a moment before the next kit started to come. She was certain that Kindleflare would have the kitten’s health under control, but if seeing his son or daughter, his flesh and blood, would grant him even a second of peace while she was in this state then she wanted to give it to him.

When the second kit arrived, Palescreech could only catch a glimpse of its red-and-white pelt before she felt the third. Her sense of the minutes passing was starting to blur, and it took every last piece of her strength, listening absentmindedly to Kindleflare’s instructions with flattened ears, to push her third and final kit into the world. She wasn’t certain how she knew that it was over, but a calm flooded through her body and she released a heavy sigh. Her eyes were closed, and she meekly mumbled something along the lines of a question about the final kit’s state.

Palescreech was much too stubborn about raising a family with Nightstep, her love, to die after giving birth to their kits, but in that moment it might’ve looked like there was a chance that she wasn’t going to reopen her eyes.

Tags:BlooRey DVD
Notes: Figured I'd get all three kits born in one go since I'm such a slowpoke.
Added some drama about it looking like she might not wake up at the end for fun. ;D I had Ivykit, Spark-kit, and then Shadekit born in that order. Let me know if there needs to be any changes. Extra tags for @kahani, Taxx & @jet.