Private Medicine Cat's Den the house that dripped blood // choices.

[rowanpaw]

☆ Rowanpaw sighs softly as she peers out into the camp, a permanent weight in her chest ever since her mother's passing. The three kits Serpentberry had stolen still linger like little shadows of her in the medicine den, and there's an uncertain air about them, like they're waiting for the other shoe to drop at all times. Rowanpaw gets it. Maybe more than anyone in the camp, she understands. She'd lost her own mother before meeting Serpentberry, but she'd had one– and even if their relationship was complicated, she'd still been her mother. And then Serpentberry and Thornstar had adopted her and Maplefrost, and now they were both dead too, and she was alone again. The kits were alone too. She didn't feel any maternal instincts towards them, not really, but there was a tender sort of curiosity and worry. They were like three little mirrors.

She turns around and pads back into the den, sitting down in front of where the three kits are lying sprawled or cuddled up, and sweeps her tail around her paws.

"There's something I wish to speak to you all about," she says. "I'm sure you've been wondering what will happen to you now, after Serpentberry's death. I… I will do all that I can for you, Faithkit, until you are well enough. Then I think… it is only right that you get to decide for yourselves what to do," her torn ear flicks, and she takes a breath.

These kits had never gotten to make any choices of their own. Torn from their mother, brought to a strange place, claimed by a she-cat who'd been the cause for their birth mother's death. It wasn't right.

"If you decide to stay here, you will be welcomed, of course. Once Faithkit is well, you can move into the nursery den, and one of the caretakers will look after you until you're old enough to become apprentices. You have a family here, if you want one– I will look after you the best I can as your older sister. I'm sure your other siblings will do the same– our mother's last action was, after all, to adopt you as her own. But…" she sighs, jaw clenching. "You had no choice in the matter, and for that, I am sorry. I will not force you to stay, nor to accept us as your family. I won't force you to do anything. If you wish to leave this place once Faithkit is well and go somewhere else, you may. I will make sure no one stops you. If you wish to stay, and for us to be no more than clanmates, it will be so. If you can't decide right now, that's alright too. You can change your mind at any time. This is not a trap nor a prison, but somewhere you may choose to make your home, or just a temporary resting place. No one will… no one will force you to do anything anymore. Not to leave, not to stay."

☆ ROWANPAW. 14 moons
mentored by serpentberry,
adopted daughter of serpentberry and thornstar
peaceful powerplay allowed
ooc - @Faithkit @Thornkit @FALSEKIT

 

[Thornkit]

Time crawled in the aftermath of Serpentberry's death. It hadn't been the first death that Thornkit and his littermates had been witness to, in a way, and he knew that it wouldn't be the last time that they watched someone die. Someone close to them, too, because for all that Thornkit had pushed back against Serpentberry's adoption of them and everything she'd offered them, she still had been, to some extent, their mother. A mother. For once, Thornkit hadn't felt as much of a need to exert excess energy, and he'd been content to be able to sit beside Faithkit, Falsekit at her opposite side. He wasn't sure when he'd get the chance to remain so still again, so he savored the moment, one that was interrupted when Rowanpaw's form darkened their nest.

Rowanpaw, daughter of Serpentberry, medicine cat apprentice of ThunderClan, set to follow in her mother's pawsteps - and, technically, Thornkit's elder sister, if he gave any credence to the adoption that had been forced upon them. He'd not given much thought to how she factored into his and his littermate's stay in ThunderClan, because he hadn't expected for Serpentberry to depart from the earth so soon. When Rowanpaw approached them, a certain seriousness about her and began to speak to them, Thornkit felt himself tense up. This was it, he thought, she's going to kick us out.

Faithkit's silence at his side was the only thing that kept Thornkit from launching into a defensive spiel. The frown that had wormed itself onto Thornkit's face lessened as he listened to Rowanpaw, and he snuck a glance in his littermates' direction every so often. Rowanpaw had offered them a way out of a life spent in ThunderClan, a course that Thornkit would taken without hesitation when he'd first been dragged to the Clan. After everything that had happened - even accounting for the annoying kits that he'd have to deal with if he did stay - Thornkit was inclined to give it more thought. It helped that Rowanpaw had given them time, as well - they weren't being chained to ThunderClan.

Thornkit flattened his ears against his head, and looked between Faithkit and Falsekit. What they thought - what Faithkit thought - was what would make up Thornkit's mind.

THORNKIT—he/him + 02 moons
ThunderClan kit
NPC ♡ NPC | adopted by Serpentberry
Brother to Falsekit, Faithkit
Mate to N/A | Father to N/A
Mentored by N/A | Mentoring N/A

penned by Archivist