Magpiekit was born only a few minutes before Cornkit, who had been born just a few minutes before Wheatkit, and yet part of him had already taken up the mantle of being the oldest sibling, of being the one in charge of keeping his siblings safe in the absence of his father. It had been his idea a couple of days ago, to try and sneak out of their little den they called home, and gods, he had found the outside world so...exciting. He was just like his father in the way that they were both born dreamers, both cats who didn't fit into the small-town environment of a clan.

On one hand, there was a part of him that wanted to stay with his mother; she didn't look too good, and well, he had never met this cat. Something told him to be at least a little suspicious, and he was, but the idea of going outside made his ears perk up. Kier's words did make sense; their mom did look tired...but Wheatkit had a good point.

"Can momma come with us?" he asked hopefully to this new, strange cat, "and where are we going? What's outside?" There was a wariness about him but his wagging tail betrayed his excitement.

Wheatkit felt excitement in her paws. She wanted to see what was out there, she couldn't hold back the urge to see all the kinds of plants and rocks out there, maybe even new friends. She gave her mother a quick nudge "See you soon!" She leapt up to the edge of the nest.

"I wanna see the moon! Are there other kits to play with? What about games, or birds!?" The young kit berated this newcomer with question after question, barely stopping to breath. The idea of getting to play outside drowned out everything else Kier said. "Why don't you have a name like us? What is a leader? How do you know us? What is a celebrity?" The questions never stop, but how could she not be curious! There is so much to learn and see!

As the kits bundled past him out of the den, Kier waited for Magpiekit to join him before giving him a gentle — but still rather rough — nudge in front of him after his siblings and casting a look back at Sagebristle. With a slow, sticky grin spreading across his face, cruel and sinister, he turned and followed the kits, steps stalking and slow and his paw-tips brushing across the stone. At their incessant prattling, Kier smiled benignly through the irritation burning higher and higher in his chest. She-cats had learned not to chatter — they were far prettier when they didn't — but Moonblight's kits clearly hadn't been taught the same manners by their defiant wretch of a mother. She had proved as useless at motherhood as she had as a Guard; she hadn't stopped him, had she? "Other kits? Why, yes, there are other kits — but they like to keep to themselves, you know. They're older than you, very grown up, and no one likes to babysit little mites like you, do they?" He smiled when he said it, and his voice was friendly, but he meant the resentment of the words. He wished he could drown them. "But birds, yes, birds — they're a little easier. You'll see plenty of birds aboveground — yellow ones, blue ones, rainbow ones." His brows raised in feigned excitement. This was sickening. The back of Kier's neck prickled with humiliation.

Why don't you have a name like us? What is a leader? How do you know us? What is a celebrity? He laughed along to hide how much he wanted to strangle the life out of her. Any adult would have been able to see through it. "I don't have a name like yours because I was born somewhere else, and I liked it too much to change it. Unique, you know." Of course she didn't. Why was he bothering to answer. He knew why. "A leader," oh, how stupid was she? "... leads the Clan!" He tried to sound cheerful and relaxed. Excited. "I make the decisions and everyone follows them." What was the next question? "Uh — I know you because I know your parents. Knew." Not yet. "A celebrity is someone terribly famous — like you three. Though I wish that fame were under better circumstances." He smiled down at them, leaning down conspiratorially and scrunching up his eyes. He didn't elaborate. Not yet. Let them wonder what they'd done wrong.

Oh, good — and now the idiot son joined in. With his back safely to them, Kier rolled his eyes to the ceiling, swearing under his breath. So if you're the leader you must know everything, right? For a moment Kier just smiled at him, tight and wide, like he was weighing up just how important brainwashing them for vengeance over Moonblight was. Clearly finding the pros stacked higher than the cons, he unfroze and answered cheerily, "yes!" When he mentioned the waterfall, Kier almost moaned — don't remind him of what he couldn't have: their drowning. "Yes, that's right. I can take you to see it, if you like. But, before we do, we must all agree to something:" his voice became very serious and he crouched down slightly, frowning between them like this was of the utmost importance, "we must try not to mention Mother anymore. You're growing up now. You're not nursery kits any longer." A grin spread across his face, like they were sharing a joke, and he looked between the three again. "What sort of kit away from their mother talks about her all the time? The other kits will mock and laugh at you terribly. And we don't want that. We have to grow up."

We all had to grow up sometime.

A pout seemed to appear on his face. As much as he wanted to explore and be one of the cool kits, he was still fiercely dedicated to his mother. A true momma's boy really, he seemed just a little more reluctant than his sister to just go along, but still, he couldn't help but wonder about his mother.

Then again, he wasn't going to challenge Kier about it. Maybe all the other kits also left their mothers already, and that's why he was heading out too, out in the world ready to grow up. He immediately clamped his mouth shut, following after Wheatkit's direction instead. He wanted to go out, and if that meant keeping quiet about his mother–at least away from Kier's ears–then that would be what he'd do.

"So what's it like out there?" he asked tentatively, wide-eyed at the leader, "is it dangerous?"

That sounds like a big job! “Yes, it is,” Kier sighed, and it was genuine — but he caught himself; he wasn’t about to trauma-dump onto a child. He had Laertes for that. “But it’s a fine one, too.” He smiled down at her. You must know about the shiny stuff in the sky! For a moment, again spent internally sobbing about how stupid she was — he nurtured that endearing stupidity in grown she-cats, but in a kit it was just unbearable, no trace of cuteness evident to him; he had no clue what clucky parents saw in them — he wondered if all Clan kits were this sheltered, or if it was just because they had, admittedly, spent the first weeks of their life underground. He and his siblings, even Mal, had known things as basic as the stars since they were old enough to open their eyes. But they, he supposed, had been raised out in the wilderness. These Clan kits were all a bit slow. Too much good living, too much fine food. It kept their brains lazy. “Oh yes, all about the shiny stuff,” he agreed. “No doubt you’ll see the moon, if it’s out.” He was quiet for a moment, and then realised he ought to elaborate. “At times it’s hidden behind the clouds,” he added quickly, glancing down at her again. Did they know what clouds were? Where did common sense end and stupidity begin? How much did he have to teach? He felt suddenly stressed, overwhelmed. He needed a nursemaid to hand them off to. Kier fought back the wave of anxiety. “Vapour… clouds,” he went on, uncertain and slightly strangled. He didn't know if discussing science with kits was acceptable. “Of moisture… In the at… In the atmosphere—“

Oh, thank god, Magpiekit was speaking.

Kier glanced over his shoulder at him; it was the only time, barring Eris and his sister, that he could actually look down at someone else. “Oh, dangerous enough,” he replied, warily pleased that so far none of them had put up anymore fuss about their mother. He dropped back a little to herd Magpiekit along under the pretence of keeping them all together. “Owls are always looking to pick off a kit or two to take back to their nests and feed their hungry offspring. Foxes, badgers, rival Clans… Traitors. Really, you ought not to wander too far if you want to stay safe. Even the bravest warriors don’t go too far from camp — it’s a treacherous, untrustworthy place.” That wasn’t true, at least not entirely — but it served his interests best if the kits developed a certain fear of the outside world; if they never wanted to wander very far from the safety of him and his influence.