Queen's Delight!!! |open

A new scent stirred Rookbriar from her sleep - a commodity she knew parents could not take for granted - and brought her mismatched open in curiosity. She wasn’t afraid, she knew SunClan cats tended to think with their claws first and had the skill to back it up, but at the same time she knew the scent was of neither Clan nor any creature that dwelled in the territories. Sleep left her eyes once she caught sight of the ball of fur curled into the den. “Why, hello!,” she purred, keeping her voice hushed as to not wake her own kits or startle the new cat too badly. “My name is Rookbriar, what a pleasure to meet you. Will you be here long?”

She recoiled slightly upon hearing the yelp, worried at first, but as Amaris spoke Rookbriar was able to relax. She gave an appreciative purr and gently nuzzled her kits. “Oh, why thank you! They’re about a moon and a half right now,” she meowed proudly. She tilted her head and gestured towards the new cat. “If they sent you to the nursery, you must be expecting. Beestar’s a mother herself, and the Clan code, I think, will keep them from chasing you away until your kits are at least 6 moons old. So you have time to think about it.”

She wasn’t sure if that was necessarily reassuring. Still, it was something. “Speaking of, how long have you been pregnant?”

Rookbriar chirped in pleasant surprise. “Oh! A moon and a half? It should only be about another moon then,” she meowed thoughtfully. Had she not been asked a question, she likely would have trailed off into deep thought with the memories of how to be most helpful at this stage. At the mention of Willowsky specifically, Rookbriar couldn’t help but giggle and she nodded. “Yes, Willowsky is… excessive, shall we say? He’s definitely a lot to handle, especially if you’re new.”

Not that she would know much about how the Clan seemed to new cats, but she did know that MoonClan cats tended to be taken aback by him, so it only made sense a non-Clan cat would be too. “He means well, he’s just… very proud. He may be just a tad vain, too, but he’s not a bad cat. Did he scare you?”

She nodded sympathetically before squirming her way closer - as to not wake up her kits - so that she could rub her cheek against Amaris’s own. “I’ll be honest, I I haven’t the slightest clue why they’’d do such a thing. They can be so cruel, those twolegs! Don’t worry, though, while you’re in our camp I’ll be here by your side,” Rookbriar offered, smiling gently. “Who knows, maybe one day SunClan will be able to feel like home for you, too! We take care of each other here, I can tell you that much. Did you really like your twolegs, though?”

She couldn’t fathom being at the whims of creatures whose language she didn’t speak and that seemed so oblivious to cat life. What did twolegs even do all day? It seemed frightening, how would one ever know what they were thinking? She resolved in her heart to make sure her new denmate was comfortable and felt secure, at least until they got more news on the matter.

Realizing just how upset Amaris was, Rookbriar curled further against her. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. You’re going to be okay now, okay? I’m here for you.” She gave a couple of reassuring licks to the she-cat’s shoulder, continuing to apply the caring pressure of her cheek to Amaris’s as to not deprive her of anything. “You’ll be okay. Just take all the time you need, okay?”