RiverClan Leader's Den

[BEAR.]

There was a distant look to Lionstar's eyes today as he stared outside his den, a quiet thoughtfulness to his expression as he considered what to do with what seemed to be a raging kit edpidemic in the Clan.

It would be one thing if the kits in the Clan seemed to have active parental figures, but it was quickly becoming apparent this wasn't the case. Kits ran rampant through the camp and territory, unwatched by queens who claimed they were responsible for their well-beings. It was exhausting dealing with them all the time when he had more important things to do, and he was frustrated no one else seemed to notice there was an issue that needed to be resolved.

Having two posted guards didn't seem to be working.. maybe he needed to expand.

At Fawn's voice, he jerked his head up and rested his eyes on his cute face. "Hm?" He was confused by Fawn's statements, they were vague.. disoriented, borderline crazy. A little attractive. He liked the sound of his name. "Fawn, what are you talking about?"

[ @Dipper ]

[Fawn]

Fawnsqueak's claws desperately sought purchase on the floor of the den, his misery rewarding him with a headache that was so well deserved he couldn't formulate a complaint. His stomach was in knots. What an awful thing he'd done, a.. a travesty, abuse of power--

A choked noise caught in his throat as he met Lionstar's eyes, and he shrunk under them, curling in on himself as if to beg the universe to swallow him whole. "It was Flyfur. I did something disgraceful," he repeated while shaking his head, disgusted with himself. "Totally uncalled for, a-and I don't think I can-- should ask for forgiveness." It wasn't the misunderstanding that he believed to be vile but his reaction afterward, his condescension for her future as a mother when she could be doing more important things-- No. Fawnsqueak couldn't think like that. It was done. Over. He couldn't pit his ideas for her against her own ideals.

"I brought her out herb-hunting because I thought," watery, he paused, voice smaller, "I thought.. maybe, the kits weren't planned, I thought she was just trying to be overly-moral about it, because.. because.." Fawnsqueak's sniffle cut off the rest, which he abandoned anyway. Not necessary to explain his reasoning. "She wants those kits. Actually wants to be a, a queen, and," it felt like something clutched his heart with talons, "and here I was so stupid, naive. I guess that'd be the word. Naive. I thought she'd be good at my job and be my replacement." It left him feeling foolish.

[Wings]

-Russetstrike-

Russetstrike was proud of the word he and Splashpaw did. With Foxkit watching in the background. She had been active in the beginning but just kinda sat there when the building actually started.
Taking a moment to shake out his fur, for whatever reason, and gave it a quick lick. He padded up to Lionstar's den. Somehow, his fur was already pretty neat. It always seemed to pat down really well with a short grooming. "Lionstar?
Splashpaw and I finished with the nursery expansions."

[BEAR.]

Lionstar was admittedly, VERY confused by Fawnsqueak's rambles until he went into the pregnancy stuff and oh, suddenly it made a little more sense. "So you offered to get rid of them?" He questioned, but didn't wait for verification before he continued, puffing his pelt up a bit. "Well, I wish you had! We have so many freaking kits in this Clan without a parent, it's stupid. I'm so sick of dealing with their bad behavior when it should be their parents doing it-- not me!" He let out an angry little hiss, paw scuffing the ground.

"Don't feel bad for trying to improve her poor decision. You don't need to make babies to have them, and I can't believe she'd be so.. selfish to intentionally make more when there's so many kits without a family right now."

[ @Dipper ]

[BEAR.]

"Perfect," Lionstar's purr was a low rumble. "If that's all you have to report, then you're free to go. Thank you, Russetstrike."

[ @Wings ]

[kieryn]

Frostpaw walked in touching the wall with her tail, she mewed "lionstar?"

@BILL.

[Fawn]

"I don't.." Fawnsqueak cringed as the pain of a stress-headache momentarily flared, and he grit his teeth until it passed. "I don't know. I.. I would've, if she would've wanted me to--but I don't think.." It was foggy, blotted out to preserve what little self-respect he had left, but he wished he could remember clearer what precisely had happened. The blanks were easy to fill in with the most awful scenario. "She told me they were wanted, or... or implied it, at least, and that's when I realized they weren't-- it wasn't an unplanned pregnancy." He was.. fairly sure that's what'd happened and bit the inside of his cheek, trying to envision it for more than fleeting seconds of embarrassment.

It was then that he actually tuned back into what Lionstar was saying and truly heard it for the first time, which caused him to rear back. He blinked at him. "That's what you think of all this?" he asked, stunned by the opinionated manner in which Lionstar spoke of the issue. It wasn't as comforting as one would hope. "I.. mean, more broadly, yeah," he said after the shock had worn off and the internal debate had subsided. More wistfully, he agreed with a nod only to hang his head, "I wish they'd take in the ones we have.." But Fawnsqueak didn't see any more than an idealistic fantasy with no method of implementation -- a nice thought, but not something they could enforce.

[Wings]

-Russetstrike-

Russetstrike dipped his head, "Oh and Foxkit helped out a little but, just ended up sitting there and doing nothing when we started the actual expansions."

[BEAR.]

"Hm?" Lionstar quirked his brow at Frostpaw. "What do you want?"

[ @kieryn ]

[BEAR.]

"Of course." Lionstar sighed. "I wouldn't expect much from that one. She can't even follow simple camp rules." There was a reason her ceremony had previously been delayed.

[ @Wings ]